


Moving In

by Idris02



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-02-14
Updated: 2014-11-27
Packaged: 2018-01-12 08:40:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,633
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1184193
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idris02/pseuds/Idris02
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>We never really hear about or see April, Alex and Jackson’s apartment. We know that they move in together and we know they move back into Meredith’s house when prepping for the boards but other than that, we don’t know anything about where they live. Now that they live together, will their relationships stay the same, will the last leaving together or will petty squabbling take control. Set roughly after episode 12 of season 8</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

“Here are your keys, three copies as requested.” Hugh said as he handed April the keys to her new apartment.

Smiling she looked down on this beautiful shiny silver keys, in a way they were going to unlock her future, it sounded weird but she truly believed it would. “When can we move in?” she asked eagerly.

“From now on I guess. You have the keys, place is all yours.” He replied. They stood silent for a moment before Hugh’s phone started to ring. He almost looked relieved. Pulling it from his pocket he checked it, smiled politely at April and said, “Call if you need” to her and then spoke into his phone, “Frank, is it done?” while walking off down the stairs, his big workmen boots clomping on each stair as he made his way down.

April grabbed her phone from her bag and texted Alex and Jackson, ‘Got the keys. Come over. Time to move in.’

Short simple and straight to the point. Slipping the other two keys into her pocket with her phone, she left the other key in her hand and took a step forward. Placing it in the lock, she paused for a moment before turning the key. It was strange, she had seen it before, three times actually but before she was visiting. Now everything was different, now it was hers. The boys went to check it yesterday to make sure everything was in working order. Jackson didn’t want to go but there was no way she would let Alex go alone, he wouldn’t care about how tidy it was. He wouldn’t bother cleaning it, she would, because he simply wouldn’t care about the mess whereas she would. April hadn’t seen the apartment empty, she hadn’t been after the last occupants took all their stuff out. Right now, it was a blank canvas.

Turning the key, she pushed open the door and stepped inside. Closing the door behind her, she leant back against it and scanned the room. The floor was beautiful, it was bare, and no longer did ugly mats and faux furs lie there as they once did. She loved the wooden floor it reminded her of home, well her childhood home, this was her home now. Light was streaming in from the windows, which was rare in Seattle but it made everything light up. Luckily, the windows were double-glazed so on the cold nights, which were frequent, they would stay much warmer, plus the thick olive green curtains that hung to the ground would add to that. Looking around her, she could see where the couch would go, and the tv and the bookshelves. She could see where they would put a coffee table, a dining table and chairs, and how they would fill the kitchen with needless accessories that she could convince herself she had to buy and keep.

Being pedantic as she was the first thing she wanted to do was to check the curtains, they looked amazing, but were they clean? Locking the door behind her, she carefully took off her shoes and placed them beside the door, putting her handbag next to them. She ran forward and then slid over to the curtains. Everyone thought she was so uptight sometimes but she always loved wearing socks on wooden floors. Going up onto her tiptoes, she pulled the curtain away from the window at the top and ran her finger along it. Bringing her finger to eye level, she detected dirt and dust residue. Sighing she pulled the curtains off, folded them in half and placed them on the counter top. A few minutes later, she had removed all of the curtains in the apartment and had them in a neat pile on the counter.

Pulling her phone out her pocket she checked for any new messages, none. Good that meant she had time. Running and sliding over to the front door she picked up her handbag and put her shoes back on, then walked over to the pile of curtains sitting on the counter. She walked slowly to the door, barely able to see over the massive pile of curtains she was holding. Waving her arm around her front of her she located the door handle, unlocked the door, yanked out the key and walked out. Making sure she locked the door behind her she headed towards the elevator. Upon reaching it, she saw a sign on it, “Not in service.”

“Are you kidding me!” She yelled at the sign. Turning to walk away, she paused for a moment. Something was weird. Standing still for a moment she figured it out, the elevators had a hum; she could hear the hum, so they must be on. Proving her theory the doors opened behind her and inside stood an old man and his wife.

“Good Morning.” She said cheerily and climbed in.

Seeing she had her hands full the old woman asked her, “What floor dear?”

“The bottom one please.” April replied.

“Same as us.” The old woman said in a reply, she hesitated and then added, “That’s a lot of curtains you have dear.”

Chuckling April replied, “Just moving in today. Checked the curtains and decided they needed a wash, so I’m going to drop them off at the dry cleaners, figure they will be done by the time I have finished painting the lounge. And I might as well do it cause no one else well. Oh I’m sorry, didn’t mean to ramble.”

The old man answered her with a smirk on his face, “Not to worry. I’m Oliver and this is my wife Ellen, we live on the floor above you.”

Extending her hand out from underneath the pile of curtains April replied, “April, like I said just moved in. My roommates, Jackson and Alex are on their way soon hopefully. But not too soon as I have their keys.”

The elevator pinged as the doors swung open; stepping out together they all made their way to the street.

“It was nice to meet you dear; we are in apartment 57 if you wish to come up some time.” Ellen said with a smile on her face.

“I definitely will,” April answered and then asked, “Do you know of any good dry cleaners close by?”

“There is great one only 2 minutes away. Go down there,” Ellen said pointed down the street, “In a straight line and then when you reach Quick-As Cleaners, very large sign out the front, go in there and say Ellen sent you.”

“Thanks. Goodbye.” April smiled and walked off leaving the elderly couple to wander off down the street in the opposite direction.

 

Just as Ellen had said, there was a huge sign out front and after mentioning her name, she got a 15% off. She paid and headed back to the apartment.

As she made her way towards the door she saw Jackson and Alex walking towards her each carrying a massive box, hopefully filled with paint.

“Here are you keys.” April said as they were in hearing distance, as they reached her she handed each of them a key, which they both stuffed into their back pockets. “Don’t lose them.” She warned.

Looking inside the boxes she sighed, “I told you to bring covers for the floors.”

Jackson and Alex exchanged a guilty look. “Why don’t you go get some then?” Jackson replied and walked into the building. He wasn’t usually this brash, but today wasn’t going very well for him.

“Sorry, I can go get them if you want.” Alex spoke softly, there was something about his tone, his whole demeanour, something different, something odd.

“No its fine, I can do it.” April replied, slightly surprised by the sincerity in Alex’s tone.

“You sure?” Alex asked he had a strange expression on his face. April felt drawn to him, all those old thoughts coming back to her. _No, why don’t you join me?_ She thought to herself. _Shut up. You tried that once already, don’t you remember how badly that turned out? Jackson punched him the face. But maybe it’s different this time?_ Realising she had left Alex’s question unanswered she pushed those thoughts away and looked up at him.

“It’s fine, see you later?” April smiled as he repositioned the box again, obviously it was rather heavy, which made her feel even more more surprised at him stopping to volunteer to help.

“Sure.” He said flashing her a smile before he turned towards the building. She kept her eyes on him, watching him open the doors and begin heading up the stairs. After about a minute, she shook her head, trying to shake out whatever it was she was feeling. Sighing, she hesitantly walked away in the opposite direction, in search of something to protect their beautiful floors. An idea popped into her head, the hospital. She hated the idea of stealing from work, but it was so close, it was only a 10-minute walk and everybody else did it. So it should be fine.

 

Rummaging around in the closet, a voice behind her startled her, “What are you doing?”

“I uhmm…” April began as she turned around to find Cristina leaning against the doorframe with a wide smile spread across her face.

“Isn’t you your day off?” Cristina remarked, still hovering.

“Don’t you have something to do?” April replied, then turned around and picked up a pile of surgical sheets. “I’m off anyway.”

“Oh I thought you heard about the pulmonary hypoplasia case that just came in.”

Pausing for a moment, April thought of staying, if it was in a kid then they would use Alex but he was at the apartment. Contemplating for a second, she decided against staying, they would be needed her help at the apartment. Without a word to Cristina, she headed out the door and off home.

 _I love this city,_ she thought as she made her way back to her home, the apartment. She grew up on a farm so she was partial to pastures and animals and that sort of green, homey atmosphere. But she loved the city, it was busy, full of people, lives interwoven but never actually touching. You could walk past the same person every single day but never acknowledge their existence. It was a city so big that was so full of people but sometimes you felt so alone. That feeling was one thing about the city that she hated. She hated that all of these people never interacted, she hated feeling alone. Sometimes that was all she felt. That was the point of getting this apartment.

April had loved living in Mere’s house but it was time to go and she didn’t want to be living on her own again. Some people loved to be by themselves, she hated it. She wasn’t scared of the dark and desperate for company when the sun went down. She just wanted to have people, friends to come home to. At first she had thought that flatting with colleagues would end badly but at Mere’s it didn’t.

As she opened the door to the building with her key, she trudged slowly up the staircase sheets in hand. She knew that the lift worked but she wasn’t in the mood to use it. Would living with Alex be a bad decision? It wasn’t that she didn’t like him, she used to really like him. But he was such a, sometimes he could be, not always, but it was a recurring pattern with him. He probably wouldn’t do any work, he wouldn’t clean, or help out with anything. But then she was just making assumptions, maybe she was wrong. He could surprise her. But maybe living with him would unearth those old feelings, which probably wouldn’t be the best thing right now.

Jackson could just pressure him into doing chores if he refused to. He was pretty good at doing them and even if he hated them, he would do them to make April happy, also she suspected, to get her off his back, but she was never sure of that.

Pausing at the landing, she looked over to the door. It was labelled, so she knew without a shadow of a doubt that it was her floor, but she was hesitant to open the door. This was her apartment now, her home. It was surreal. This was the first real place she had since leaving, she had dingy flat after dingy flat, Mere’s place was great but she never felt that it was actually hers. The apartment was. If Alex and his laziness and whores didn’t ruin it. She felt a pang of jealously thinking of the girls that Alex would bring into the apartment. _Not jealously, disgust._ She reasoned to herself.

Opening the door she wandered down the hallway and stopped in front of her door. Closing her eyes for a brief moment, she put her hand out and turned the handle. She was home.


	2. Painting

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A little more April and Alex interaction :)

“Took your time.” Alex remarked as she shut the door behind her.

“Excuse me?” April answered kicking her shoes off, her eyes fixed on the boxes filling the living room, covering every inch of the counter top.

“We could of painted half this apartment by now.” Alex answered walking towards her and grabbing the sheets out of her limp arms.

“When did these come?” she muttered slowly walking towards the boxes lining the hallway.

“What? Oh the boxes, dude showed up just after we did, left a few minutes ago.” Alex draped the sheets over the floor near the wall. April moaned to Mere that he wouldn’t do anything, but he seemed to be helping, and doing a good job of it.

“Where’s Jackson?” April asked, turning her attention away from the boxes and onto her other surroundings. Alex was kneeled over and taping a sheet to the wall with duct tape.

He ripped it with his teeth and answered, “Went out to, uh, don’t know, wasn’t really listening. Give us a hand would you.”

“Sure.” April replied.

She rushed over to him and picked the pile of sheets off the ground and began lining the floors next to walls with them, she wanted this room painted today. Alex moved behind her, quickly but carefully duct taping each sheet to the wall, blocking any potential splatter, much like her he didn’t want any paint on the beautiful wooden floors.

“Where did you learn to do this?” April asked as he duct taped the last sheet to the wall and she dumped the left over sheets on top of a box labelled Kitchen #1

“Uhm, I don’t really know.” He answered standing up and scanning the room. “You any good?”

“What?” April answered her eyes following his gaze, trying to get some context.

He moved his eyes and took a step towards two boxes that stood alone in the corner of the room. All of the other boxes were bunched together in the hallway, the kitchen and then in the centre of the room, far away from the walls. She had originally ignored this when she had entered but now she was thinking that this was done on purpose. Only she couldn’t figure out whose idea it was, was it Jackson’s or was it Alex’s?

“Painting? Can you paint?” Alex replied throwing her a paintbrush. Catching it, she could see from side on the smile of Alex’s lips at the lack of a clatter sound when the paintbrush hit the ground. He cracked open the lid of one of the tins of paint and pulling a stick out of the box he stirred it for a few seconds.

“I have painted a few sheds in my day and a barn actually. I painted the barn red, for Larry and..” April started, a smile reaching her eyes at the arousal of a distance memory of her childhood.

“Yeah yeah, I don’t need your life story.” Alex interrupted as he stood up and walked over to the door.

“Why do I have to use the paintbrush? When we have those?” April asked pointing at the pile by the boxes, while ignoring his comment.

“For the corners. I thought you said you had done this before?” Alex said as he looked from the paint to the walls, to the kitchen and then back to the paint.

“I have!” April replied walking down the hallway, heading to her room. Dropping the paintbrush on top of one of the many boxes sitting in her room she looked over each box, lifted the box labelled Clothes #2 and placed it on the floor. Turning her attention to the box underneath it, labelled Clothes #4 she took her key out of her back pocket and used it to cut open the tape.

“Whoever chose the paint did a good job. It will look great.” Alex yelled in reply.

“Thanks.” She yelled back rummaging through the box. “Aha!” she said to herself as she pulled out a pair of her old track pants and one of her slightly small tank tops. Peeling off her jeans, she put her track pants on, pulled off her top and yanked the navy blue tank top over her head.

Grabbing her paintbrush and stuffing it her pocket she spun around and looked at her new room. The wallpaper was perfect, her bed would arrive in, she looked down at her watch, about 6 hours, she had plenty of time to do the first coat of the paint in the living room before they brought their beds in, that was good.

Her room wasn’t the biggest, but it wasn’t the smallest, it was a little bigger than Alex’s and it was a little smaller than Jackson’s, but her room had the biggest cupboard and Alex’s had the best view. Smiling she opened the window and stuffed everything back into Clothes #4.

Trudging down the hallway she pulled her hair into a messy bun and banged her toes on two different boxes as she made her way towards Alex. That was the issue was thinking and walking, she could multi-task that was easy, but when you were imagining what your apartment would look like, rid of boxes, with the furniture delivered and the walls painted, it was hard to focus on your actual surroundings.

Alex was already into it when she reached the living room, he had done a few strokes of paint on the wall and was hard it work. She had to say she was pretty surprised, she had assumed that Alex would bugger off, like Jackson had seemed to have done or he would sit on the counter drinking beer and telling them that they missed a spot, but he seemed to be into it.

He was actually helping, with minimal harassment. He bent over to get more paint on the end of his roller and then plastered more paint onto the wall in front of him. He wasn’t in jeans nor was he in scrubs, which were the two main things that she saw him. He was in dark red track pants that had a few holes, the ends were frayed and they were already covered in splatters of paint- some wet, some dry. She then realised she was checking him out. _April! He’s Alex._ She thought to herself.

“Well are you just going to stand there?” Alex remarked covering his roller in more paint.

“But you do it so well. Don’t want to ruin your flow.” April answered stepping forward and stirring the stick that was in the paint tin next to the rectangular grey container that was full of paint to put on the end of Alex’s roller.

“You aren’t getting out of this.” Alex did long strokes of paint onto the wall, top to bottom, firm, steady and fast. He looked like he had done a lot of this, maybe a part time job, he didn’t seem like the type who would have done a lot of painting at home with his dad, and with what little information she knew about his childhood she knew that family bonding was not the cause of his obvious skill.

“Wouldn’t dream of it. Just trying to witness the mighty Alex painting, who knew.” April smiled, she didn’t mind that Jackson had left her with him, she hadn’t wanted Alex to be here with them, she just wanted it to be Jackson and her. To get this flat with the fire place, the beautiful wooden floors, the walk in shower; they needed Alex’s money.

At first she hated the idea, she would always do most of the cleaning up, she would nag and pressure Jackson into doing some, but Alex would most likely adamantly refuse. However this appeared not to be the case. Then again, painting and washing plates were a different story and they had only been here for about an hour.

“Shut up, press play and start painting.” Alex replied still busy painting, he stepped to the side and started working on a new area of wall.

“Press play?” April mumbled scanning the room.

Her eyes fell onto the ipod dock sitting on the counter with an ipod plugged in, walking over she pressed play and dropped her paintbrush into the box on picked up a roller. The music started as she rummaged through the box and pulled out another grey container. Placing it on the other side of the front door than Alex she gently placed the roller on the ground, grabbed the paint and poured it into the container.

“What are we listening to?” she asked as she lifted up her roller and smacked it against the wall.

“Music.” Alex replied.

“Really.” April smiled, she didn’t mind talking to him like this, he wasn’t her best friend, he was no Jackson, but they were friends. When he wasn’t been gross and well Alex like.

Out of the corner of her eye she saw Alex lean over and grab a small black thing. The music got louder and she realised it was a remote.

“Shut up and paint.” Alex yelled over the music. So much for conversation, oh well, painting was bonding. As new roommates they needed to bond over something, loud music and wet paint may just do the trick. The music wasn’t bad either, neither was the company.

“Shit you did a terrible job.” Alex remarked as he scanned her side of the room.

“What?” she yelled defiantly, roller in hand.

“Thank god we have to do another coat.” Alex replied with a laugh.

“It’s better than yours.” April remarked, taking a step towards the side of the room that he had painted. They had spent the last 3 hours painting the room, working on separate sides with blaring music and they had just finished the first coat.

“Mine is perfection.” Alex took a step towards her, staring at the wall in front of him.

“Perfection?” April remarked pointing at a spot on the wall.

“With painting a first coat, errors are to be expected.” Alex answered defensively. He lowered his roller onto the sheet, placing the spongy bit into the now empty grey container.

“That’s bull, mine is way better. It doesn’t have ‘errors’. Plus perfection doesn’t include errors.” April replied laying her roller down onto of his.

Pacing over to the opposite side of the room, he pointed at the doorframe. “What is this then?” Alex remarked, his finger hovering a smudge of paint on the corner of the door.

“Well, uh, shut up!” April would not go down without a fight.

“That paint should not be there!” Alex replied. He had clearly won, they both knew it but April did not want to give up and she certainly did not want to admit that he was right nor did she want to say that his painting skills were far more advanced.

Bending down she picked up her discarded paintbrush dipped it in the paint and flicked it at Alex. “What?” Alex yelled as paint splattered over his shirt and track pants.

“That paint should not be there!” April mockingly repeated a wide smile on her face.

“Oh you are asking for it.” Alex replied, dipping his hand in the paint and flicking it at April.

“Ahh!” she screamed as her navy singlet was covered in a layer of paint. She ran to the other side of the room, picked up the roller and ran at Alex with it. Painting a line down his middle she laughed, dropped the roller and turned to run.

Grabbing her from behind, Alex wrapped his hands around her waist and pulled her into him. He dragged her backwards as she struggled to break free but his grip was to strong.

“Alex!” she squealed as he smeared his hand which was covered in wet paint, all over her hair. Letting her go he doubled over laughing as teal paint ran down her forehead.

“You… ass!” She yelled at him as she wiped her hand over face preventing any from falling into her eyes. Dipping both hands into the paint bucket she ran her fingers through his hair. Giving him a teal Mohawk, laughing while she did it.

Turning again to run away, he grabbed her from behind again and spun her to face him. Laughing she said, “Pay back.”

“I always thought that teal would suit me.” Alex remarked laughed and for a split second a thought crossed his mind. Clearing his throat, he shook his head and they stopped laughing, standing silent. His hands rested on her hips and he had no desire to move them, and April had no desire to make him move, she was comfortable as is.

Bringing her hands up she rested them on his arms, slowly pushing them to move from her hips and limply wrap around her, his hands crossing behind her back. Taking a step forward she lifted her head and looked from the handprints she was leaving on his arms and then into his eyes.

“Who would have predicted this?” she whispered, nothing moving but her lips and her chest, rising up and down, her heart pounding in her ears.

“A horoscope?” he muttered, his eyes staring deeply into hers, unmoving, breathing slowly in and out, trying to control his every move.

“It did tell me that I would kiss a hot stranger sometime this month. Maybe it was referring to now.” April breathed out slowly, her eyes unmoving, barely blinking.

“Really?” he mumbled, his grip tightening, his hands moving to hold her lower back, almost desperate to touch her. He slowly pushed the bottom of her singlet up and rested his teal hands against her back, just above the waistline.

“They got some of it wrong though.” She replied moving her hands up from his arms, leaving a painted trail as they made their way to rest onto his shoulders.

“Yeah?” he answered, his fingertips pushing the top of her track pants down.

“You’re not a stranger.” She replied, her breathing slow and steady, controlled, barely.

“Are you calling me hot?” he smiled cheekily.

“I guess I am.” She smirked taking a small step towards him.

“April.” He muttered inching his lips closer to hers.

“Yes.” She breathed, her whole body did an involuntary flick, she was so nervous but she was ready. She wanted to do this, she had waiting long enough, and doing this didn’t mean she was less of a Christian. She could do this, Alex, guilt free.

“I’m going to kiss you now.” He answered, his lips hovering over hers for a moment, his eyes searching hers. He didn’t know what she was thinking, was she okay was this? Is this what she wanted? Or was she going to freak out and then they would awkwardly co-exist in this apartment, avoiding each other here and at the hospital. He just needed an answer, something.

“Okay.” She breathed closing her eyes.

That was all he needed.


	3. The Kiss

When his lips touched hers, it seemed as though she was transported into another world. He was good at this, _he certainly had a lot of practice_ she thought to herself. His lips were soft and his kiss was passionate. Whatever control he seemed to have was torn away as his hands slid down to her ass and pushed her towards him. Her hands ran through his hair, and she wrapped her hands around his neck, pulling him closer to her. _Finally._ She thought to herself, _Took a while, but finally._ His hands pulled at the bottom of her top, lifting it upwards, raising her hands above her head, she broke their kiss, just for a moment, so that he could pull her top off over her head.

“Stop.” She whispered, although it was more a quiet yell. Alex dropped her top immediately and backed away from her as quickly as he could. He was practically on the other side of the room, picking up his roller as he went; April did the same, sprinting to the other side of the room, trying to put as much space between them as she could. _Damn_ , was all April could think.

They both heard it. They had both heard the reason for them stopping, the door. There was a key in the door. It could only mean one thing. Jackson was home. _He managed to miss most of the bloody painting but now he comes._ April thought to herself, wishing he could have come home in an hour or so, give her time to do whatever she wished. Wishing that she would have had the option to sleep with Alex, or to just kiss for a while, without being interrupted.

Alex dipped his end into the paint and wiped his mouth with his free hand, just in case there was any evidence of their kiss. Across the room, April mimicked his actions, straightened her clothes and then slammed her roller against the wall as the door opened.

“It’s because you’re holding the damn thing wrong.” Alex said in his usual tone as the door opened, revealing Jackson with a few bags in his hands. “Hey.” Alex nodded to Jackson as he shut the door behind himself.

“Hey.” Jackson replied with a quick smile, he was looking considerably happier, and no longer upset about something. Dumping the bags on one of the boxes in the kitchen, he turned to examine the walls. “You did a better job at painting each other than this room. It looks terrible guys.”

“Maybe if you were here it would look better.” Alex replied. He was a little annoyed that he came home when he did, but he was also sort of relieved. April was April, it probably would have ended badly, he didn’t want to be punched again. Jackson has some skill in that area, and he didn’t want him to give him a second chance, this time Alex might not take being punched quite so passively.

“Obviously.” Jackson replied bending down to inspect the paint, “Nice colour.” He murmured to himself. Stirring it he looked over at Alex, “What can I do?”

April was a little offended, Jackson was her best friend, but he barely looked at her. Although the more she watched Alex, she noticed his masterful strokes, along with how tight his shirt was and she no longer cared that Jackson was being weird. _Stop it._ April thought, resisting the urge to kiss him again.  It was hard to remember why she remained a virgin while she watched him paint for a few seconds. Feeling her eyes on him Alex stiffened, and April immediately looked away not wanting Jackson to notice, and wishing that Alex didn’t notice either.

“Turn the music back on and take over for April, she needs a shower.” Alex glanced down at the clock on the oven, “Our beds will be coming in a few hours, so we need to get this done fast.”

April started to protest, but she stopped when she remembered it was in her hair. “You need a shower too.” She shot back at Alex. Jackson’s back was turned to them and Alex gave her a smile, to show that he would love to have joined her in the shower, but he couldn’t. She felt her cheeks flush prompting her to quickly head down the hallway shouting, “You boys have fun.” Just before she shut the bathroom door behind her, wishing that Alex was on her side of the door.

She wasn’t entirely sure why she wanted Alex in the bathroom with her, nor what she would do to him if he was, but she wished that Jackson hadn’t shown up, she wished that she didn’t have to stop kissing him and part of her wished she had never kissed him in the first place. She felt all of those old feelings rushing to the surface, feelings that she had never quite forgotten, but had stored away and pretended they no longer existed.

**...**

April spent far longer in the bath than she had originally intended, part of her wanted to be fast, so she would be out there with Alex, but the more sensible part of her decided that staying in the bath was the best option, enjoying the bubbles and her book. Before she knew it, she was almost halfway through and the bubbles around her were almost gone.

In some chapters her eyes had glazed over, as she skimmed the pages, far to absorbed in her own thoughts to focus on the lives on the characters trapped within the pages. She was far too busy thinking about Alex, becoming more and more glad that Jackson came home when he did, it would only have ended in disaster much like before, although part of her disagreed. It was hard for her to work out whether she wanted to kiss him again or not.

With her hair wrapped in her towel, and a fresh pair of clothes on April wandered down the hallway, checking, but not checking, to see if Alex was in his room, or any other room for that matter. He had probably left which was for the better she had decided. When she saw him next she was going to ask him what the kiss meant to him, if it meant anything to him.

Reaching the end of the hallway she noticed Jackson in the kitchen making himself a sandwich, a half drunk beer sat beside him on the bench and music was still blaring. Scanning the room quickly she saw the paint slowly drying on the walls, a far better coat than she had done she noticed but told herself it was because it was the second coat. The walls weren’t the only thing April noticed, she also noticed a lack of Alex.  

“Where’s Alex?” April asked Jackson as she approached the kitchen, trying to appear nonchalant while she thought of what she was going to eat, and how she was going to talk to Alex, what she would say.

“Don’t do that.” Jackson replied not looking up at her as he spoke, he cut his sandwich in half and took a bite. He looked stressed, exhausted and slightly on edge but April didn’t know why and she didn’t really want to ask, not if he was going to be a dick.

 “What?” April snapped, not wanting to fight with him but wondering if he was talking about Alex, which she figured he was. Giving him a wide berth as she entered the kitchen she grabbed the box of cereal from the cupboard, glad that Jackson had actually done some grocery shopping and had unpacked a few boxes of kitchen stuff.

“Get attached to him. It won’t work out.” Jackson answered. This time looking over at her, she avoided his gaze. Slamming the cupboard doors she dropped the cereal box down on the bench and yanked open the draw as Jackson started putting his ingredients back into the fridge.

“What? Why?” April demanded, as she poured cereal into her bowl and glared over at Jackson. Part of her agreed with what he would ultimately say, but part of her didn’t, and that part was currently winning, although it was hesitantly waiting to be convinced.

“He’s Alex and your April.” Jackson said simply as April poured milk onto her cereal. She put the milk back in the fridge in silence while Jackson continued to eat his sandwich, his eyes moving from April to the window, and then to the painted walls.

“Whats your point?” April asked finally, she was ready to hear his argument. Her doubts were taking over, and she wanted to be convinced that they couldn’t work, which was something she knew Jackson could do. He was good friends with Alex and best friends with April, he knew it wouldn’t end well.

“It could never work between you two, it would be worse than like..” Jackson started, pausing as he searched for a comparison. April’s glare softened as she continued to eat her cereal, he knew her, and he knew Alex.  “like us dating.” Jackson added after a moments thought.

“Ew, sorry, but ew. You’re my best friend but no.” April replied, trying not to laugh at the idea. _Sure he was gorgeous, and smart and…_ _getting a bit off track here April._ April thought to herself, trying to focus on the ridiculousness that was them dating, while trying to ignore all of the qualities that would make him perfect for her.

“That’s my point. Except with Alex you have nothing in common, plus he’s a manwhore and you’re…” Jackson started, careful not to mention what he liked about Alex, what made him one of his closest friends, and also trying not to insult him or April.

“A virgin.” April finished flatly.

“Yeah but you’re April.” Jackson added as he put his plate in the sink and tried to assess whether or not he had upset April. He didn’t want to fight with her, but she needed to see that it couldn’t work and he didn’t want to have move again, which could happen if April and Alex broke up and then couldn’t be around each other. All Jackson wanted to do was sleep.

“We established that already.” April said coldly as she slowly ate her cereal, her eyes fixed on Jackson, failing to see why Alex and her wouldn’t be good together, why the shouldn’t be together.

“You know what I mean.” Jackson answered, attempting to soften her glare. Taking another sip of his beer he focused his gaze on the living room, trying to imagine what it would look like when their furniture and belongings were unpacked.

“I really don’t.” April continued to glare at Jackson, as her desire to kissing Alex again was growing stronger and her fears and doubts were diminishing.

“Look you are both brilliant people but April, Alex is not for you and he never will be. He’s more like Cristina than he is like you.” Jackson tried a new approach, he smiled at April as he talked, trying to make her see it his way, the way that he knew she knew, but didn’t want to see. He knew that she was tired of being alone, but she needed to wait for someone else who was more like her, or at least less like Alex.

“And…” April started.

“You want to wait until marriage, and have cow milking, church going children, do you think he does? It is simply waste a few weeks maybe months of your time.” Jackson said, his smile growing into a smirk as he thought of Alex on a farm in overalls, which he quickly pushed out of his mind and focussed on April whose glare was shrinking.

“What because I’m not getting any younger?” April snapped, knowing that he was right, that he wasn’t telling her that she needed to have children soon, but that Alex wasn’t the man she needed, he was only the man she wanted right now.

“No. You will both get hurt when it ends, and it will April.” Jackson insisted, before draining his bottle of beer. Her glare disappeared completely, which told Jackson he was done, well almost done.

“You don’t know that.” April replied weakly. Lowering her spoon into her bowl her eyes scanned Jackson’s face, trying to convince herself that he was lying.

“But you do.” Jackson said quietly. April nodded but didn’t reply. Turning away from her, Jackson grabbed his keys and headed towards the door. Their beds would arrive soon, but he was too tired to wait, he had to work in 5 hours, so he had to sleep now. Shutting the door behind him he left April consumed in her thoughts, now sure of what she had to say to Alex when he returned.

**...**

April’s whole body stiffened. She heard it, she heard the key in the lock. Having heard the footsteps approach the door she knew it was Alex, it was Alex’s key in the door and it was Alex who she would have to talk to, even though she didn’t want to. She already knew what she had to say, because it was the truth.

Jackson was in surgery, and when April texted Cristina to ask if she thought that April could possibly be with someone like Alex, she replied without an answer, ‘Do you?’ was all she said, convincing April once and for all that they were undisputedly bad for each other.

April had been unpacking boxes for the last ten minutes, trying to make everything more homey, knowing that she would barely have time afterwards, she had work tomorrow and the next day and again the day after that. Their beds had arrived half an hour ago, and she had promptly put sheets on them all, after eyeing up one of the delivery men, who was probably better suited for her than Alex, but had shown absolutely zero interest in her.

The door opened slowly, revealing Alex carrying a few folders, he shut the door behind him before his eyes scanned the room. “He..” Alex started as he eyes rested on April who stood in the kitchen, her back to him.

“We need to talk.” April cut across him as she turned to face him, meeting his gaze but desperately wanting to look out of the window. Alex looked over at her oddly, as he walked past her before disappearing down the hallway. Leaving April to silently stare out of the window in the kitchen, Alex dropped his folders on his freshly made bed, and quickly riffled through one of his boxes, pulling out his jacket. As he pulled his jacket on he made his way back to the kitchen, back towards April who was impatiently waiting. Smiling at her quickly he leant against the kitchen bench as he watched April, trying to read her.

“I don’t think we should kiss again.” April said, attempting to keep her expression expressionless and her tone neutral, while maintaining his gaze but she couldn’t do all three at once. Looking down at her hands she took a quick breath, preparing herself for his reply.

“April…” Alex started, but April was determined to explain before he could say anything, it would be far harder if he spoke.

“I just think that…” April cut over him again, as she kept her gaze fixed on her hands and wondered why it felt oddly useless saying these things, her resolve wavering.

“I’m sure your little speech is terrific and all that but I’m not arguing with you.” Alex kept his eyes fixed on her as he spoke over her. April looked up from her hands as she opened her mouth to reply but before she could Alex added, “I agree with you, on this at least.”

“Oh” April breathed. Her gaze on him she added, “So you’re not mad.”

“Seriously April?” Alex scoffed, as he absentmindedly started unpacking the box in front of him, while he marvelled at her inflated sense of self importance, it was only one kiss.

“I know, it’s just…” April started, as she too continued to unpack the box that she was working on before Alex came home.

“What?” Alex cut across April. It seemed that neither of them would be able to finish a sentence in this conversation, mainly because Alex had no desire to hear April get all mushy and deep. Placing four cups in the cupboard, he closed the lid of the box.

“Nothing…” April muttered. As Alex’s keys jingled in his hands, she looked up and saw him heading towards the door, “Where are you going?” April asked, far louder than she intended. They were talking, and now he was just leaving.

“Joe’s.” Alex replied as he continued walking.

“So you are mad!” April exclaimed as she placed the blender on the bench and watched Alex closely.

“Jesus April I’m not pissed at you. We kissed, big deal, my heart isn’t broken cause we ain’t going to kiss again, I’m not you!” Alex replied his voice raised but not yelling, as he turned around to face her, he registered her shocked expression turn to anger but chose to ignore it.

“You’re such a…” April yelled but the slamming of the door cut her off. “I can’t believe I even thought of…” April muttered to herself, groaning loudly as she put another plate into the cupboard. Jackson had almost finished unpacking the kitchen, and that would have to do for now, she was too pissed to unpack.

Grabbing her coat, her handbag and her keys, she slipped on her shoes and slammed the apartment door shut behind as she slowly moved towards the stairs, hoping not to run into Alex.


End file.
